Forsyth Republicans withdraw support from Woolard's city council run

The Forsyth County Republican Party has withdrawn all support for Lawrence Chester “Chuck” Woolard, the Republican candidate running for the Southeast Ward seat on the Winston-Salem City Council, said Nathan Tabor, president of the Forsyth County Republican Party.

“The party was not aware of the issues that came to light last week,” Tabor said.

Tabor referred to an Oct. 22 blog posted on the YES! Weekly website, and an article in the Oct. 28 print edition of YES! Weekly, which documented that Woolard, 66, pleaded guilty and was convicted of common law forgery after being charged with 44 counts of felony forgery in Guilford County in 1991.Woolard was sentenced to five years of supervised probation and forced to pay court costs for the 1991 conviction. In Forsyth County, Woolard has a 2001 conviction for marijuana possession and series of civil judgments levied against him in connection with his home improvement businesses, C&W Home Improvement and RCW Design Construction, LLC.

Tabor said the Forsyth County Republican Party does not have a constitutional obligation to vet all Republican candidates for local office.

“Obviously, people make mistakes both Republican and Democrats,” Tabor said. “With the things that came to light with Chuck, he’s a Republican, but we just thought it was best to focus on the other four races and not get tied down in a ‘he said, she said’ legal discussion of Chuck’s past record.”